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29. How far is Pluto from the Sun?
Pluto is almost 40 times as far from the Sun as the Earth is. Its mean distance from the Sun is 6,000,000,000 kilometres. Its eccentricity, however, is the largest of that of any of the planets. So at perihelion it is 4,400,000,000 kilometres from the Sun. At aphelion it is 7,300,000,000 kilometres. Its perihelion distance is about 100 million kilometres less than is Neptune's aphelion distance, so that at certain times Pluto's distance from the Sun is less than that of Neptune.
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30. How fast does Pluto travel around the Sun?
Pluto travels at a speed of 4.7 kilometres per second.
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31. How long is the day on Pluto?
The period of Pluto's rotation is very difficult to determine. In the late fifties of the 20th Century, 6 1/2 Earth days was given for Pluto's rotation period.
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32. How was Pluto discovered?
Pluto was discovered mathematically, as was Neptune. There were irregularities in the motion of Uranus and Neptune which early led to the belief that another planet was in an orbit outside of the orbit of Neptune. Percival Lowell and William H. Pickering were the
first to try to calculate the position of this planet, but many years passed before it was actually found. Thousands of photographs were studied before a faint disk was seen to have moved among the stars. It was discovered in 1930.
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33. How big is Pluto?
The size of Pluto is one of the many
mysteries of astronomy. The best estimates of the size of
Pluto, drawn from observations made since its discovery
shows that it is much smaller than the Earth. The size of
Pluto is from 3,500 kilometres to 6,000 kilometres in its
diameter.
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34. How long is the year on Pluto?
Pluto takes 248 Earth
years to complete one revolution about the Sun.
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35. Does Pluto have any satellites?
The first Pluto's satellite, Charon, was discovered in 1978.
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